For horror fans up and down the UK, the highlight of the calendar is Frightfest and since its first-ever event in 2000, it has gone down as one of our best-known film festivals, with a reputation that extends beyond our tiny little island and deep into the American heartland. Genre favourite Guillermo Del Toro described it as the “Woodstock of Gore”. As part of the 2018 event, frightfest have collected a few titles under the umbrella term – “the best of the fest on the small screen”. This includes The Dark, Secret Santa, Lifechanger, Boar, Pimped, and Fright Fest.
Today is the turn Chris Sun and Slaughter FX with their giant killer pig movie, Boar. Given the trend of this Frightfest mini-reviews thus far, you should expect me to say that this killer animal movie is, in fact, something deeper and more thought-provoking than its genre trappings may suggest. Not this time – Boar is exactly what you’d expect it to be.
The most appropriate explanation of just what type of film this or any killer animal is is to describe them as an oversized killer animal versus an isolated community. Here, we are in the Australian outback as a boar the size of a rhino devastates the countryside, killing livestock, pulling over fences, and eventually developing an insatiable taste for human flesh. The key players in this community under siege by this ungodly pig are Ken (John Jarratt – Wolf Creek’s Mick Taylor), Debbie (Simone Buchanan) and Bernie (Nathan Jones, 6′ 11″ former weightlifter).
There are two major players, the first is Nathan Jones. Given his behemoth stature, Jones’s film roles have been those of physically domineering henchmen that the hero has to overcome against all odds, he did it in Mad Max Fury Road, Jet Li’s Fearless and First Strike. However what those films overlooked was the innate charisma and likeability the man has, whenever he is on screen the movie is at his very best. Also, the novelty of him picking up an overly handsy bar patron like a child’s toy will never fail to entertain. To me, he has the same charm as many a blaxploitation lead. Like Pam Grier, Isaac Hayes, and Fred Williamson, Jones commands attention with the same magnetism. I may be a little hyperbolic here, but it is the most genuinely surprising aspect of the movie, an aspect I’d love to see other directors pick up on.
This is a low-budget film produced by an Australian FX studio, so expect nothing less than a very impressive beast in the top billing. With my review materials, I received a detailed document on the ins and outs of this massive creation, but even so, that detailed document doesn’t prepare you for how intimidating this thing is. With its massive hooked teeth, one blind eye and blood-drenched fur, in the night scenes I imagine pretending to be scared wouldn’t take much acting. Even better than that, this thing moves, okay not very much, but still, this thing is a massive undertaking.
The scenes where someone is eaten feature the victims and the boar staring at each other through the blood-soaked, late-night fog. Which is intimidating, at least it would be if this trick wasn’t trotted out (sorry) every time the boar kills and it kills a lot – probably too much. Adding on top of that is the digital FX needed to bridge the gap that can’t be achieved with tactile tech – running. The discrepancy between this thing standing and/or chomping on a person is undermined by how artificial the FX is when this thing runs. Let’s compare that to Alligator, a beloved American film from 1980. When their alligator moved about above ground it was a guy in a rubber suit (an uncredited Kane Hodder). Did that ruin the film? No, it’s just something you have to learn to expect from killer animal movies: entertaining rubbish.
